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I heard a report on the news that you shouldn't hold a child on your lap while going down a playground slide. Why not?

You heard right! Young children should not go down a playground slide while sitting on another person's lap. This was the conclusion of a study looking at playground injuries. In particular, one pediatric surgeon reviewed the records of 58 children who sustained a tibial fracture over an 11-month period of time. The tibia is the larger of the two bones in the lower leg. Eight of those fractures occurred while going down the slide on the lap of an adult (usually the parent). How is it possible for a toddler to fracture the lower leg while sitting on an adult's lap? Any sudden movement of the young child can result in the child's foot getting stuck under the adult, twisted, or held flat against the surface of the slide. The continued forward movement of the adult with the child puts enough pressure and load on the lower leg to cause the bone to give. Even though most of today's playgrounds have been designed with safety in mind, there are some things that can't be designed away. One of those is playground equipment like the slide that requires a certain size and level of developmental skill. If the child cannot sit up alone with enough strength and balance to move forward down a slide, then the child should be restricted from the slide. The child must be able to safely climb the ladder, sit down at the top of the slide, and make it to the bottom without difficulty before being allowed to do the slide alone.

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